USS ''Forster'' (DE-334) was an Edsall-class

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

built for the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Namesake

Edward William Forster was born 8 October 1884 in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He enlisted in the Navy on 25 August 1919, and was warranted Machinist on 25 June 1942. On 17 August 1940, he joined and was killed when it was sunk in the

Battle of Savo Island The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and, in Japanese sources, as the , and colloquially among Allied Guadalcanal veterans as the Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks, was a naval battle of the Solomon Islands ca ...

, 9 August 1942.

Construction and commissioning

She was launched on 13 November 1943 by

Consolidated Steel Corporation Consolidated Steel Corporation (formed 18 December 1928) was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Consolidated built ships during World War II in two locations: Wilmington, California and Orange, Texas. It was created in 1929 by the merg ...

Orange, Texas Orange is a city and the county seat of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,324. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, and is from Houst ...

, sponsored by Mrs. E. W. Forster, widow of Machinist Edward W. Forster. ''Forster'' was commissioned 25 January 1944 and served as an escort in the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

during World War II. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve at

Green Cove Springs, Florida Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 6,908. The city is named after the portio ...

on 15 June 1946.

Coast Guard service

She was turned over to the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

on 20 June 1951. Forster (given the Coast Guard hull number WDE-434) served on ocean station duty out of

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. This included duty on Ocean Stations VICTOR, QUEEN, and SUGAR and voyages to Japan. She also conducted search and rescue duties, including finding and assisting the following vessels in distress: the M/V ''Katori Maru'' on 17 August 1952, assisting the M/V ''Chuk Maru'' on 29 August 1953, the M/V ''Tongshui'' on 1 – 3 October 1953, and the M/V ''Steel Fabricator'' on 26 October 1953. She was returned to the Navy on 25 May 1954.

Return to U.S. Navy service

''Forster'' was converted from DE to DER 334 in the early 1950s in Long Beach California and she was recommissioned at Long Beach, California, 23 October 1956. She served as a part of the DEW (Defense Early Warning) Line in the North Pacific. And was stationed about 200 miles off the coast of Seattle, where she was based. Typical duty would be two weeks on station, cruising North and South off the coast, then 2 weeks in port. She was stationed out of Pearl Harbor in the 1960s and served in the Western Pacific on

Operation Market Time Operation Market Time was the United States Navy, Republic of Vietnam Navy and Royal Australian Navy operation begun in 1965 to stop the flow of troops, war material, and supplies by sea, coast, and rivers, from North Vietnam into parts of Sout ...

in 1968-69 patrolling the

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

ese coast for contraband shipping and providing sea to shore fire when called upon. She served on patrol in the Formosa Straits in 1969. She was transferred to the Atlantic fleet in late 1969.

Republic of Vietnam service

In February 1966, ''Forster'' escorted the nine cutters comprising Division 13 of

Coast Guard Squadron One Coast Guard Squadron One, also known in official message traffic as COGARDRON ONE or RONONE, was a combat unit formed by the United States Coast Guard in 1965 for service during the Vietnam War. Placed under the operational control of the Unite ...

from

Naval Base Subic Bay Naval Base Subic Bay was a major ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility of the Spanish Navy and subsequently the United States Navy located in Zambales, Philippines. The base was 262 square miles, about the size of Singapore. T ...

to Vung Tau in South Vietnam.Larzelere, p 76 She served in the Navy until she was transferred on 25 September 1971 to the

Republic of Vietnam Navy The Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN; ; ''HQVNCH'') was the naval branch of the South Vietnamese military, the official armed forces of the former Republic of Vietnam (or South Vietnam) from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats fro ...

. The Vietnamese reclassified her as a frigate and renamed her RVNS ''Trần Khánh Dư'' (HQ-04). In 1974, she participated in the

Battle of the Paracel Islands The Battle of the Paracel Islands (Chinese: 西沙海战, Pinyin: Xisha Haizhan；Vietnamese: Hải chiến Hoàng Sa) was a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam in the Paracel Islands on January 19, 1974. The ...

Socialist Republic of Vietnam service

She was in a shipyard, in overhaul, when Saigon fell on 30 April 1975, and was captured by North Vietnamese forces. The

Vietnam People's Navy The Vietnam People's Navy (VPN; vi, Hải quân nhân dân Việt Nam), or the Naval Service (), also known as the Vietnamese People's Navy or simply Vietnam/Vietnamese Navy (), is the naval branch of the Vietnam People's Army and is responsi ...

renamed her VPNS ''Dai Ky'' (HQ-03), she was apparently still seaworthy in 1997 and was used as a training ship. By 1999, she was reduced to a training hulk.

Military awards and honors

Footnotes

References

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External links

NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive – USS Forster (DE 334)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster (DE-334) Edsall-class destroyer escorts World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the United States Coast Guard Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Republic of Vietnam Navy Ships of the Vietnam People's Navy Ships built in Orange, Texas 1943 ships